He recalls a design project he undertook during college, where he was part of a team tasked with building a fuel-efficient car for an Eco-marathon — an annual competition hosted by Shell Global featuring more than 100 teams.

Pollmann’s team designed two cars — one using gasoline and another using alternative fuel. They won first place for an Ethanol engine they created.

That stuck with him — the desire to work toward something that would ultimately better the world.

“I wanted to do something that made a difference,” Pollmann said.

During his sophomore year, about 100 companies came to his college campus in Champaign-Urbana to recruit for internships. After talking with a representative from Exelon, Pollmann decided to apply.

It was a competitive process.

“I felt like one of a hundred [to get the internship],” Pollmann said.

He’d intern two summers at La Salle Station.

Each time, he had to complete a project and give a presentation on it.

The first project involved helping to redesign the way new valves are installed on machinery.

“I loved my first internship,” Pollmann said.

The second year, he worked on what he called component maintenance optimization.

In English, that basically means Pollmann had to find a way to do preliminary inspections of equipment to determine when it had to be replaced.

During those internships, he also got to go through various types of training, learn the interworkings of La Salle Station, and the differences between it and other nuclear power plants.

“I learned a ton,” Pollmann said.

At the end of the summer, interns deliver a presentation on their project to “big dogs” at Exelon, who also interview them for potential employment.